This is the fourth in a new series of posts sharing Pope Leo XIV’s words each Wednesday in his Weekly Audience, a time when he teaches, encourages, and shapes the mission of the Church around the world. Check back here each Wednesday to get to know Pope Leo!
“Every betrayal can become an opportunity for salvation if it is chosen as a space for a greater love.”
In this week’s Wednesday audience, Pope Leo XIV invites us to reflect on the moment when Jesus, during the Last Supper, offers a morsel to Judas, the one who is about to betray him.
In the face of this betrayal, Jesus continues to love until the end, and this is the key to understanding his heart. “True forgiveness does not await repentance, but offers itself first, as a free gift, even before it is accepted.”
This is the mystery in which we, too, are called to participate—to continue to love, even in moments of disappointment, hurt, betrayal.
“Let us ask today for the grace to be able to forgive, even when we do not feel understood, even when we feel abandoned. Because it is precisely in those hours that love can reach its pinnacle.”
